[Advaita-l] Question about Sri Vidyaranya's JMV & jnani matra

[Anand Hudli]

On Mon, Apr 8, 2019 at 5:22 PM Bhaskar YR via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>>
>  Frankly I donot know what exactly is the problem in accepting Ishwara is
karma phala dAta.  When Ishwara is upAsya brahma, he has the upAdhi
vishesha so, accordingly phala also differs says bhAshyakAra.
>>

The discussion is centered on the questions: does the "apUrva" concept of
the Mimamsakas find a place in advaita, since we hold that phaladAtA is
Ishvara, not something else, based on the sUtras 3.2.38-41, starting with
phalamata upapatteH? If yes, how is "apUrva" related to Ishvara? The
bhAmatikAra says the Mimamsakas have only used "apUrva" as a phaladAtR
because of logical necessity. They simply needed something to explain how
fruits of a yajna may be realized after a time gap following the completion
of the yajna. For example, one performs a yajna to go to heaven. He may not
immediately go to heaven after the yajna, but only after his death. In
order to explain this, Mimamsakas, out of sheer logical necessity, say the
yajna, upon completion, persists in the form an unseen potency called
"apUrva", that will in due course bestow the fruits of the yajna. This, the
bhAmatikAra says, is not right. We cannot introduce a concept out of sheer
logical necessity; it needs backing from Shruti. This is exactly why
Ishvara as the phaladAtA makes sense, because He has the backing of the
Shruti. Shankara quotes from the Shruti, "sa vA mahAjana AtmAnnAdo
vasudAnaH" (Br Up). As explained, karma will create an impression
(saMskAra) in the mind of Ishvara, who then bestows fruits of the karma,
based on that saMskAra. This saMskAra may also be viewed as the subtle
state in which the karma exists after its performance, and called the
"apUrva" of the advaitins.

Anand


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